To fully appreciate all aspects of the present invention it is necessary to understand the constraints associated with the removal of contaminated masonry, which herein means concrete, stone, rock, brick, tile or any material having the same characteristics as these materials, and the apparatus used in the system of the present invention for handling these contaminated materials. These constraints are different than those which are normally present when removing non-contaminated masonry such as concrete. The conventional approach and apparatus to remove concrete for example is one of brute force such as with jack hammers, destruction balls or explosives. In the removal of contaminated masonry such as contaminated concrete, the first constraint is the removal and handling of the contaminated material not simply the breaking and/or removal of the concrete, for example. Accordingly, the tools or apparatus used in the system of the present invention are adapted to remove small amounts of the surface at any one time without damaging the underlying concrete or material since the object is to remove only the contamination.
Tools or apparatus are available for the surface removal of concrete and the like. Partner Industrial Products has a brochure of hand held tools and some tools which are mounted with wheels to be held or operated from a handle such as "Chippers", "Paving Breakers", or saws and the like. Each of these tools or apparatus produces a very small broken particle and considerable fines or dust. It is these particles and fines or dust when removing contaminated masonry such as concrete that presents the danger. When these pieces are contaminated with hazardous material, these contaminated pieces must be fully contained. None of these tools have any containing apparatus associated with these tools. It should be understood that merely providing a vacuum removal to a tool does not necessarily contain the material because it may not provide a closed system. A closed system requires the containment of essentially all the contaminated material in apparatus or containers which are easily and safely handled.
A further problem with the tools and apparatus of the prior art is that the tools are not designed for the removal of large volumes of material to be removed and collected. Apparatus which will collect a single container of non-contaminated material and requires shutting off before filling a second container or does not provide a closed system is totally inadequate to collecting large volumes of contaminated material which will require the filling of a series of containers in a closed system. Larger machines such as disclosed in a sales brochure of the Marindus Co., Inc. for a machine called the "VON ARX FR 300" is a machine with rotating flails, loosely mounted on a rotating drum hammer and scratches the surface or in a technical sales piece of Macdonald Air Tool Corporation entitled "Effective Concrete Surface Preparartion" for a machine called the "SCABBLING MACHINES" or in a sales brochure of the Blastrac Division of the Wheelabrator Corporation for machines called "Blastrac" are known. However, even when these larger machines have been modified with a vacuum system they have the problem of operating at large rates of removal or in maintaining a closed system once the single container associated with such equipment is filled. Most of the machines disclosed do not disclose a vaccum attachment but those which do are all limited to the single container in which the broken concrete is collected. The limitations of these machines is also present in tools and machines made by Pentex, Inc. As disclosed in "Pentex Ink" a publication of Pentex, Inc. volume 5, No. 1, spring 1989, a combination of hand held tools and a vacuum system was used to remove about 3/8 of an inch of concrete from wall surfaces and up to 1/2 of an inch of concrete from floor surfaces. The vacuum system used with the tools was "VAC-PAC", a vacuum system manufactured and sold by Pentex, Inc., which includes a drum. However, the system when the drum is not attached is an open system and requires that both the concrete removal tool or device as well as the vacuum system be turned off for replacing a filled drum. Furthermore, when the drum is removed, particles and dust in the filter device may fall out the opening. A sales brochure from Pentex is entitled "The Moose from Pentex" which discloses a large machine equipped with a vacuum attachment; however, it has a single container which is about a half drum size. Again, once this drum is filled the "Moose" must be shut off to empty the drum or the material cannot be contained. Thus, such machines cannot maintain essentially continuous operation while containing the broken material in a closed system.
In the handling of contaminated masonry such as concrete contaminated with various hazardous materials the danger is failing to contain the contaminant. The system of the present invention overcomes this danger which can not be solved by the prior art by maintaining the broken contaminated masonry including the very fine dust particles in a closed system while simultaneously filling a series of containers. A closed system is one in which the contaminated material is handled safely without exposure to the fine dust produced in breaking the masonry in the first instance until the contaminated material including essentially all the fine material is contained within a container which can be safely handled. In addition the system of the present invention provides for the safe disposal of the contaminated masonry as well as the replacement of the removed contaminated masonry.